MAS Encourages Financial Institutions to Use Technology to On-board Customers More Efficiently

Singapore, 7 February 2018... The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued new guidance to financial institutions (FIs) on the use of innovative technology solutions to facilitate safe, non-face-to-face customer on-boarding.

MAS requires FIs operating in Singapore to implement robust controls when onboarding new customers, e.g. when opening a bank account, to detect and deter money laundering or terrorism financing. MAS already allows FIs to carry out non-face-to-face (NFTF) verification of customer identity, provided adequate measures are in place to guard against impersonation. MAS has provided additional guidance that these measures could include biometric identification, real-time video conferencing, and secure digital signature using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-based credentials1.

MAS will also allow the use of MyInfo2 for NFTF customer identification and verification. MAS will not require FIs that have been given access to a customer’s MyInfo data to obtain additional documents to verify a customer’s identity. FIs using MyInfo will also not be required to separately obtain a photograph of the customer. The use of MyInfo will streamline customer due-diligence checks across the financial industry. It will improve the quality of risk management while saving time and costs.

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